we'll have live reports from gaza and ashkelon, israel, in moments. yesterday, around this time, we reported on hopes for a break in cross border rocket attacks, but a senior hamas official described to cnn as a calming down period. even as diplomats including secretary of state hillary clinton searched for a truce, the fighting last night intensified. israel trained rockets and artillery fire on gaza overnight. 100 confirmed strikes destroyed bridges, tunnels and buildings. hamas returned fire with dozens of rockets, 62. about a third were intercepted by the iron dome defense system. this attack, a bomb, a public bus around lunch time, not far from israel's military headquarters. the blast wounded 24 people, added a new urgency to efforts to reach a cease-fire. the military wing of hamas tweeted to israelis, you opened the gates of hell on yourselves. 40 minutes after the bus bombing, our cameras captured this explosion in gaza city.

all the while there was a flurry of diplomating activity. secretary clinton met with palestinian authority mahmoud abbas in the west bank and benjamin net ya knetanahu in ca. let's go straight to fred pleitgen where sirens have been going off earlier. and joining us is ben wedeman in the gaza strip, gaza city. fred, what are you seeing now in ashkelon? >> reporter: >> from ted pleitgen, have the rockets stopped in ashkelon? >> reporter: the rockets, yes, have stopped in ashkelon. it was interesting, because up until about a minute before our broadcast began, there were still booms that were heard in the sky. and about ten minutes ago we had to run for cover in ashkelon.

now it appears as though things are quiet. i can tell you from speaking to people here on the ground, they're telling us this he don't really believe in this cease-fire just yet at this point in time. folks that we're speaking to at this cafe who have been watching the speech of prime minister benjamin netanyahu say they believe this is not a solution to the problem that they are going to be having to face rockets falling on their heads very soon again, anderson. >> i'm also joined here in jerusalem with cnn's wolf blitzer. we'll be monitoring developments over this crucial next hour. this next hour really key to what happens for the next 24 to 48 hours. ben wedeman is joining us in gaza city. ben, from what you're seeing, what you're hearing, any incoming, any outgoing? >> reporter: well, certainly within the last half hour to 40 minutes there was quite a lot of both. we saw three separate volleys of rockets fired from the area just behind me.

and just about seven or eight minutes ago heard a sort of incoming rounds, landing also just not far from here. now it has gone quiet. we can still here the drones overhead, but certainly did seem that both sides were trying to get in their last knocks before the clock struck 9:00. >> ben, it is important for people to realize hamas is not the only actor in gaza which has been firing rockets. there is islamic jihad and other groups. what is the likelihood that hamas will be able to stop other groups from some -- any form of aggression because as part of this cease-fire agreement, they are responsible for a cessation, a stopping of all aggression toward israel by all factions. >> okay, anderson. i heard a large explosi in the distance. as far as that goes, certainly

hamas, as far as israel considers hamas to be the government in gaza. they don't recognize it. but they consider it responsible every time a rocket is fired out, every time there is some sort of disturbance of the peace, so it speak. so they will be obliged to some extent to try to stop other groups like islamic jihad, like smaller organizations, from breaking the cease-fire. and hamas has gained a lot out of this war. you have to remember that back in january 2006 when hamas won the parliamentary elections, the palestinian parliamentary elections, the united states and israel immediately took steps to isolate it, politically, economically, in every possible way. now we find that hamas has now -- has hosted leaders from turkey, from egypt, qatar, foreign ministers from a variety of arab countries. it gained quite a lot in the last eight days, and some people

here would say it would be foolhardy for them to lose their gains, simply because some small faction decides to launch a rocket over the border. >> and you're looking at a live picture on the right-hand side of your screen of gaza city. keep that picture up as we continue our discussion to see if there are any more incoming shells from israeli defense forces nerks o forces, any outgoing forces. joined by wolf blitzer here in our studio, in jerusalem. you just spoke to mark reghev, the spokesman for the prime minister. you asked him some key questions and for some there were not answers. in particular what happens to the borders, to the blockade of gaza city? >> i think that will depend if this thing holds. if the rockets no longer go into israel, if there is no firing at israeli troops who are patrolling the border, if that stops, i think the israelis are prepared to take some steps to ease some of the blockades, some

of the restrictions. that will take a while. that's not going to go into -- i suspect that will not go into effect right away. the israelis want to test hamas right now, test the agreement, see what happens, not just over the next few hours but the next few days, see what is happening and then they'll begin to reciprocate, i suspect. i don't think they'll do much right away. >> he made clear israeli government holds hamas responsible for all the factions, islamic jihad, al qaeda related groups, anybody who is firing rockets. >> that's a problem. you were just there. you know that hamas may not be able to control every element, every terrorist organization that may be operating there. and they can sabotage it if they get an opportunity. some of them might want to do that. we'll see. i think there is a good relationship between the hamas leadership and the egyptian government of the new president, mohamed morsi, who, himself, is a leader of the muslim brotherhood. there is a new gee rhregime in

right now. they went out of their way to praise morsi for his role now. there could be an improvement in israeli-egyptian relations if this agreement holds. that's a big if right now. we'll see what happens in the coming hours. we're watching it closely. >> ben wedeman, egypt has a role in basically monitoring developments and has a responsibility now according to this agreement, the parameters of the cease-fire. egypt, will they be able to stop smuggling of hamas weapons through those tunnels, from egypt into gaza city? because there is a lot of concern obviously on the israeli side of the border that hamas will use any kind of a cease-fire, use any stopping of violence to basically replenish their stockpile of weapons. >> really is up to the political will of the egyptian leadership to make sure this happens. we have seen it in the past that the egyptians will sort of

tighten and loosen their hold on gaza when they see fit, when there are tensions, for instance, in the days of hosni mubarak, when there were tensions between hamas and the egyptian government, suddenly it became difficult for palestinians in gaza to leave the gaza strip and go through egypt. sometimes they would decide to crack down on the tunnels. after the last flare-up, the operation cast led in 2008-2009, part of the agreement when the fighting ended is the americans would provide money to the egyptian government to build an underground wall, steel wall, to prevent tunnels from being dug. what happened is the gazan tunnel diggers are very good at what they did and they were able to basically knock holes in that wall. so the egyptian government is going to have to really sort of redouble its efforts to make sure that, a, there is no smuggling out of gaza -- into

gaza of weapons, and, b, that they have an eye on what is going in and out. and certainly if they take a passive approach, if they don't do that, then it will be very much a repeat of what we have seen in the past. a lot of weapons getting into gaza. and others as well. people as well. you have to remember also that the sinai, which since the revolution -- sinai peninsula of egypt, since the revolution in egypt, has become something of the wild, wild east for the count country. thousands of prisoners escaped during the revolution, found their way into sinai. egypt has a double problem. it has to re-establish its control over sinai. if it is going to have any effect on arms smuggling into gaza. anderson? >> you know, it is wolf over here, ben. what was intriguing to me, anderson. i think it is intriguing to a lot of people, the u.s. role in

all of this, because we know in the statement that the white house released, the readout if you will, of the president's conversation with prime minister netanyahu, he promised additional financial assistance to israel in connection with the iron dome anti-missile system. there were political assurances provided to the israelis as well that the u.s. would support israel as a result of the agreement that israel has a right to defend itself. i'm intrigued by what the u.s. promised egypt right now because i'm sure there was some significant assurances not only economic, financial, military, political assurances to the new government in egypt as well. >> ben wedeman, again, we're monitoring developments here, just joining us in gaza city, keeping up our live camera picture there as ben wedeman is also there in gaza city to see if this cease-fire is holding now just a few minutes old, any rockets outgoing, any more explosions, incoming. if you hear anything, let us know. there are critics of this agreement already who are

saying, look, this is a return to the status quo that existed before this latest flare-up of the conflict began, some eight or nine days ago. how will anything be different? within 24 hours of this cease-fire, the borders are supposed to reopen to the way they were before, but there is still essentially a blockade in effect now. >> the blockade as far as the border with israel is concerned is not going to change. there is -- that's really not in the cards. i think what hamas wants is much freer movement in and out of gaza through egypt. and beyond that, what they're looking is the ability for palestinians here in gaza to travel in and out because that's one of the main complaints you hear about from palestinians here is they feel deprived of the ability to get out of gaza, to get an education, to travel abroad. it is very difficult at the moment and i think they would

like to see that change. >> also joining us here is sara sidner, she's in tel aviv. we saw a bomb being thrown on to a bus. what is the latest on the situation there? >> there have been many people released from the hospital. five people still in the hospital after that blast. and we talked to some of the people about the cease-fire around that area. and what they thought about things. and it really depended on who you talked to. one person saying, you know, they wanted the prime minister to finish the job. i'm quoting here, and go in and stop this forever happening again. stop rockets from being able to come over into israel again. in other words, do whatever is necessary including a ground war. while others say we just want to see an end to the violence. if it can start with something like a cease-fire and then move

into something more permanent, we would be happy with that. but ultimately everyone wanted a permanent solution. heard that over and over and over again. a permanent solution to this conflict so it doesn't keep flaring up again every two months. in october, anderson, there was another flare-up, rockets coming over, more than 80 rockets coming over into israel and there was a peace deal or cessation brokered by egypt, similar scenario, not as public, but behind the scenes, egypt got involved, and things calmed down and here we are again in november, seeing this, although it ratcheted up to an alarming degree to a lot of people. i got off the phone with a senior israeli official who said, there is great optimism in his mind that they're seeing egypt do something they weren't sure they could count on. when mubarak regime is in place, they were able to count on them

to at least be the intermediary. they're worried the new government, the fact that it is the muslim brotherhood, that's someone that hamas has real connection with, that may be a difference in the way that egypt acted. and they're very happy to see egypt coming in between and accepting being really the keeper of this truce, of the cease-fire. so some optimism there, despite the fact that we did see rockets come over just before and the air strike in gaza. >> the next hour or two are going to be critical, whether or not this cease-fire does, in fact, take hold, so far there seems to be quiet in the skies over gaza city. except ben wedeman reporting the sound of drones continuing to echo throughout the very crowded buildings and streets there. we'll take a short break. our coverage continues. we'll hear from the white house about the conversation between president obama and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu. settle down. settle.

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continuing coverage, just the top of this hour, cease-fire agreement went into effect, agreement by israel and hamas through egypt and eight days of deadly fighting. the agreement came after 24 people were seriously hurt today when a bomb exploded on a bus in tel aviv. i want to bring in jill dougherty at the white house. the president has been on the phone with israeli prime minister netanyahu and mohamed morsi. do we know the content of the discussions? what did he say? >> when it comes to netanyahu, of course, he expressed appreciation and also the most important thing, talking about the president obama would push for additional funding for iron dome, that protection from incoming rockets. and also for other missile defense programs. that is very, very important for israel because if they did not feel secure, they would not have gone along with this. that's one of them. and then the other sigh, i think, anderson, is the praise you're getting from president

morsi. this is going to be very important. president obama praising him for his personal leadership. remember, here in the united states, there has been a lot of criticism, especially on capitol hill from republicans, about egypt. and this is a way of president obama being able to make the case that perhaps for egypt there could be something in it. some people here, for example, have pushed for cutting funding to them, they get about $450 million a year from the united states. and this could be inoculation from that, by president obama, saying, look, he came to the fore, and he pushed for this agreement, this cease-fire and we'll have to see whether it is doable. but there was success in that. and then also the role of hillary clinton, you know. obviously her very intense shuttle diplomacy to try to carry out what the president wanted and her own ability to help smooth the way for this.

>> jill dougherty, for years now, though, for six years at least, the u.s. and israel tried to politically isolate hamas. has that now completely failed? >> well, don't think they can completely isolate them. the reality that they see now is hamas, like it or not, controls gaza. so what you have to do is try to bring them on board. and the only person who can really do that, who is able to do that, is mohamed morsi. after all, muslim brotherhood, he, interestingly, could play a role maybe in a way that is better than president mubarak, who had no love lost for the -- for muslim brotherhood and other let's say more radical elements. so there is an interesting dynamic, i think, coming out in this, that role of president morsi. >> even though hillary clinton met with mahmoud abbas, who is a leader of a different faction of

palestinians welcome the palestinian authority, the fattah group in the west bank, obviously did not meet with hamas, the u.s. does not recognize hamas, but most observers say hamas came out of the stronger and mahmoud abbas seems weakened in all of this. we'll see how that plays out in the days and months ahead. jill, appreciate the reporting. we'll check back with you as the story develops. the fragile cease-fire, we continue to show you on the right-hand side of your screen, the skies over gaza city, critical over the next minutes and hours to see if this cease-fire holds. will it mean a stop to the rocket barrages which have bloodied the region for the last week? we'll talk coming up to mark kimmitt and ben wedeman in gaza, talking about the military situation in terms of the weapons both sides have been using. we'll be right back. ♪two of a kind ♪for your information ♪we're two of a kind ♪two of a kind

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of the cease-fire between hamas and the israelis. it took hold at 9:00, 9:00 p.m. local time here. some 24 minutes ago. the skies over gaza city seem to be free of rocket fire for first time in the last eight days. if it holds, we'll be looking at what it is going to mean for the region, for gazans most importantly and for israelis. both sides of the border. i want to bring in mark kimmitt and ben wedeman in gaza city. you've been hear something celebratory gunfire? >> yes, quite a lot of celebratory gunfire here in gaza. this is a city that for the last eight days has been between the bombardment, the air strikes and the rocket launches, deathly quiet. now it has come back to life. you can hear the gunfire, hear the mosques, you can hear the cars in the streets. it seems that people do feel

that the cease-fire at least for the time being is beginning to take hold. >> i know the answer to this question, but i got a lot of tweets about this, i'll ask you the question i've been asked a lot. how do you know it is celebratory? >> well, i just know. you can tell when there is a clash going on. people don't empty their magazines into the sky. this is sort of coming from every direction at the moment. i'm hearing cheers as well in the street. there is -- it is not the atmosphere of a gun battle or a clash. this is celebratory gunfire. >> i also understand -- i saw something over your head, assume, are those fireworks? >> i did not see it. i'm just going to ask my colleagues. were those fireworks or

something -- tracers. tracer rounds. so, yes, all part of the celebratory gunfire fest that is going on here. >> ben, also, earlier in the day there was a reaction when the bus bomb went off in tel aviv. i know you tweeted about it. what was the reaction you saw on the streets in gaza city? >> well, it was certainly muted compared to what i'm hearing now. we did hear scattered celebratory gunfire which was fairly brief. it didn't go on for very long. we did hear the mosques praising those who had conducted that attack in tel aviv, but it wasn't sort of as noisy as this particular celebration looks like it is going to become in the coming hours. anderson? >> remarkable change in the last hour it see people out on the streets over the last several days in gaza city at night as it

has been much throughout the day. streets have been largely deserted. militarily, what does the cease-fire mean here and in your experience, what -- do they actually hold in this part of the world? >> well, they really don't. i think it is not an issue of militarily, it is political. that's why you see the people out in the streets right now. they have stood up against israel, prevented an invasion. and they have been able to take israel and fight them to a cease-fire on the bargaining table and not in the streets of gaza. it could well be that the peace may hold for some period of time, but there are a significant number of elements that would like to see violations of the cease-fire because they're not happy with the peace that is going on right now or the cease-fire that is going on. so while you can be assured israel will be able to control their forces, it will be more problematic for hamas to be able to keep all those elements, some of the other al qaeda groups, from trying to intentionally

stop the cease-fire and get the fighting to start again. >> general kimmitt, it is not clear how many of the fajr 5 iranian made more sophisticated rockets that we have seen being fired toward israel, what kind of stockpiles, the exact number they had. how concerned with you about hamas using a cease-fire, using any halt to the violence to just replenish their supplies of these rockets? >> well, that certainly could be the case. i agree with you, they have probably depleted a significant amount of the fajr 5s and fajr 3s. that's what my colleagues are telling me as well, that hamas is somewhat happy they have a cease-fire, because they were running out of their most effective capability.

the terms of the cease-fire, particularly as regards egypt's role in upholding this cease-fire, in many ways will determine if they're able to get additional capabilities through the tunnels on the border or from the blockade. so egypt remains an instrumental player, the key player in the entire cease-fire. >> and, ben wedeman, politically for hamas, what does this -- what does the last eight days mean? how much stronger are they now than they were at the start of this violence, vis-a-vis fattah and the palestinian authority and the west bank? >> politically they definitely emerged from it much stronger. i remember that in january 2006, when there were palestinian parliamentary elections, and hamas won, immediately the united states and israel began to impose sanctions on hamas, political and economic sanctions. they have been trying now for the last six years to isolate

hamas, but what we have seen in the last few days is that high level arab delegations, including several foreign ministers, we have seen the leader of qatar previous to this outbreak of fighting, we have seen the turkish prime minister come, suddenly hamas has many friends in the muslim and arab world that it could not depend upon before. before it was hosni mubarak, was guarding the gates at gaza. he was not a friend of hamas. and now you have muhammad morsi, a member of the muslim brother h hood, president of egypt. now hamas emerges from this in a much better political shape. and unlike in the last round of fighting in 2008-2009, as the general mentioned, they were -- they have been spared a military humiliation, a ground invacatsi

where they get mauled. they have a negotiated settlement to bring about the cease-fire, so they do have something to crow about at the moment. anderson? >> and, ben, just very briefly what does that mean for the palestinian national authority and the west bank? >> well, certainly they sort of have been on the sidelines the entire time. they don't have a lot of sway with hamas, even though they did sign a reconciliation agreement last year that hasn't really resulted in much. but they don't have any influence really on the affairs of gaza. once more, just to repeat myself, it is really egypt who is the main player, the main influence, the gatekeeper to gaza. the fattah movement, the palestinian authority based in ramallah, has really just sat on the sidelines and watched and issued some protests over what is happening in gaza, but they

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responsibility it a great responsibility it take the right steps, to secure israel. that's how i've been acting and i will continue to do so. >> statement by prime minister benjamin netanyahu made shortly before the cease-fire went into effect. cease-fire seems to be holding for now. over the last 30 minutes or so we have been watching closely the skies over gaza city. nora uday joins me on the phone from ramallah. you're skeptical of a cease-fire. why? >> we're just hoping that israel will honor its commitment to cease-fire and stop the killing of innocent palestinians as you've been covering over the past eight days, over 150 palestinians were killed. a third of them were children and the vast majority were civilians, women, children, and the elderly. our priority right now is to make sure israel stops the fire. it is the occupying power, the

supreme military power in the region. and so it has in its control the power to make sure that calm is restored, or to provide more reasons for more bloodshed and the opportunity for this very grave escalation to happen once again. >> how concerned are you about the growing power of hamas, emerging from this more powerful than they were eight days ago, the palestinian national authority has largely been sidelined from this. how concerned are you about hamas living up to this cease-fire agreement and some of the other groups operating in gaza strip, islamic jihad and other factions. >> the president has been following up very closely with egyptian leadership, with the president, whom we really praise for his leadership, and making sure that calm is restored and that an agreement is reached. we have full confidence in our

egyptian partners to make sure that this agreement carries through. as far as the hamas and islamic jihad movements are concerned, our priority is there is a chance for the bloodshed to stop and to make schourur sure recon is consolidated and that it is carried through as soon as possible. that's the national priority right now. rebuilding, healing, and making sure that we never confront a situation like this, not united. you can see why a population that has been trapped for over five years, under siege and under occupation and also suffering from political division is especially vulnerable. this is a realization that all political parties in palestine accept and they accept the responsibility to make sure that reconciliation is achieved. that's the national priority

right now as we approach the day on which we hope to upgrade our status at the united nations to observer state, bringing really to a close a chapter, if you will, in our national struggle to statehood and getting closer to that two-state solution being undermined on a daily basis by the entrenchment of occupation. >> nora uday, i appreciate you being on. joining me now is ambassador orlen. how confident are you the cease-fire will hold? >> i hope it will hold, anderson. prime minister netanyahu responded to a request from president obama to try the cease-fire and we're certainly going to hope that it takes hold. and that hamas will honor its commitments, israeli forces as you can note have cease-fire at this time. but we're still seeing -- receiving reports of hamas continuing firing from hamas and we hope it will dwindle and end.

but the cease-fire is the beginning. it is not -- >> you're saying you have reports that firing continues? >> just prior to coming to the studio, yes. >> where is it coming from, to your knowledge? >> same place it was going the last eight days into the southern part of the city. southern part of the country. but that was just prior to coming intthe studio. we understand it may take a while for the cease-fire to hold, we understand that israel will retain the right to defend itself should the cease-fire break down, should there be terrorists who continue to shoot at our population. that's not only our right, but our duty. we are now prepared to explore ways of returning stability and security to the area and certainly peace to the 5.5 million israelis different rocket fire, not over the last eight days, but over the years since israel withdrew from gaza in 2005, since hamas threw -- overflew fattah, the palestinian

liberation organization in gaza in 2007. and since turned gaza into an outpost for iran. >> let me ask you about the blockade of gaza, do you see israel altering that if this cease-fire continues to hold? >> it is not a blockade in the full sense of the word. it is a blockade in which we reserve the right to inspect ships to see if they're carrying kargos of iranian arms. we caught ships whose hulls were filled with iranian arms. that cannot change. that can't change because it is a matter of national vital security for us. the long range missiles that were fired at tel aviv were smuggled into gaza from iran. and that cannot continue. it is one of the great -- that partial blockade is one of the great guarantors of our security. >> egypt now says they are a guarantor of this, do you expect them and hold them accountable

for any weapons that are smuggled for the tunnels from egypt into gaza? >> egypt in the past has fulfilled a very constructive role in mediation t has filled that role again in this current episode and we appreciate egypt's contribution. and we hope that egypt will continue to fulfill that constructive role. >> appreciate your time. thank you very much. a lot ahead on this program. our coverage continues in just a moment. we'll continue to show you what is happening over gaza city as we hear celebratory gunfire. we'll be right back. i don't spend money on gasoline. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car.

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of the cease-fire in effect between israel and hamas. the head of hamas is now making a statement in cairo. want to play that for you.

>> translator: god took their hand off gaza and can build them to commit themselves to the conditions of the resistance. therefore, if we understand, this simplicity, we can understand as people of the media to tell the brave message of our people to the entire world, because we want the entire world to understand our people and our cause. and through you, we can explain the faces, the pale faces of the leaders of the enemy, because they have failed in their attempt and their attempts back fired against them. they wanted to destroy the infrastructure of the resistance in hamas. today, they claim they have done so, and they have not. this is -- they are bankrupt.

i don't deny they have done so much, we could count how many buildings they have destroyed. and how many offices of the media they have destroyed and how many children they have kill ed. and how many journalists and how many photographers they have killed, just like you. we can count how many offices and how many buildings they have destroyed. this is their accomplishment. they have nothing else to show. and our rockets continue to strike them until the last minute. their goal, their aim was to deter us. their resistors showed them and the people of gaza and the west bank and gaza and elsewhere that this deterrence had failed, that people -- the free people of the world cannot be deterred. then the israeli adventure has

failed. and if netanyahu prepared this adventure to win at the elections, we will see what happens at the israeli election. if he wanted to test egypt, egypt of the may 25th revolution showed itself as a -- the true egypt that we have known as a nationalistic, that we have grown up with it. israel, in all its -- all of its goals, have failed, thanks to god. our brothers in egypt were asked, the whole world asked our brothers in egypt to sponsor account, to the cease-fire, a calm to the situation. thes asked them, everybody went to egypt, you can pressure hamas, pressure the resistance, please, do so, but i tell you, egypt with no honesty.

egypt took its responsibility, thankfully, with a complete spirit as a respected state, that the whole world asked them to do its responsible professionally and objectively and at the same time did not forget its arab nation, that is the arab nation and muslim nation that palestine lives through the conscience of egypt. egypt did not sell out the resistance, did not pressure that resistance as some people are saying. egypt behaved responsibly. egypt wanted to end the aggression, but not with any price. on the contrary, egypt understood our requests. through the negotiations, egypt wanted to end the hostilities,

to stop shooting only and our demands that we have put forward to the egyptians that put forward to the americans and to the israelis said that they could be discussed later on, but first, the shooting should be stopped. but we have said to them, and this is reflected in the agreement clearly, we have told them, this is one package only, and a mutual cease-fire, with the demand -- with our demands. our demands must be met. we insisted to the end -- to end the killing and the destruction and the assassination through land, sea -- we have assisted that through the see because the sea of gaza has been taken over by israel and the land -- the border area that israel should not encourage against gaza

through the land borders crossings. and to allow all this as being put forward in the agreement as one package. and the implementation of this agreement will start 24 hours after the cease-fire. and all these agreements as far as the crossings, it will be dealt with and prepared 24 hours, which means and after 9:00 p.m., cairo time, there will be a discussion on how to implement the demands of the palestinian people. therefore, gaza could be the killing -- the killing could be lifted off gaza and the blockade could be lifted of gaza, so gaza could live normal like any other part of the world. gaza is part of the palestinian homeland. not a separate entity from the other palestinian territories. and it is part of the entire palestinian nation. me and my brother and with him

we were determined and we had the flexibility and the determination to work together with our brothers, the egyptians, and with egyptian intelligence it was a beautiful work as we worked with it as our one party, and egypt, threw its intelligence service, to understand our requests and to be responsible and professional about our requests, and here i would like to thank our dear egypt, aided by president -- the brave elected president dr. mohamed morsi. may god give them bountiful and may god keep him in the -- >> the head of -- you're listing to khaled meshal, the head of hamas. in terms of what hamas had been asking for, in order to have a

cease-fire, not everything they have been asking for has been agreed to. most notably they wanted an opening up of the borders, an end to blockade by israel. that has not occurred. as part of this agreement within 24 hours, the borders are reverting back to the way they were eight days ago. but that's not opened up the way that hamas certainly wants. >> no, it hasn't. they're not getting everything their way. what they have got there is an understanding, we heard it from meshal that within 24 hours they will be begin talks on those borders and the opening of those borders. they have got a promise there. they have something much, much bigger here, and obviously meshal alluding to it there and speaking directly to it, and in praise of president mohamed morsi. what they have is the support and the backing. i was looking back at my notes. isolation would never work,

there couldn't be peace without hamas because they -- he said, more influential than the other, palestinian group fattah and they couldn't as they were -- as they have been, excluded from peace talks at that time, annapolis in december 2007. 2010, he said the international community needs to put more pressure on israel to recognize palestinian rights. what we're seeing here now in this agreement is hamas getting the essentially what it is asked for there. it now has this international support. it is not the isolated group that it was. hosni mubarak has gone from egypt. president morsi is in. so this is all changing. and they are beginning to see now an awakening of the arab voice they wanted, that will put more pressure on egypt. so these are some of the roots, i think, why hamas is willing to sort of compromise and wait for 24 hours before it begins a substantial talks over what it wants on the ground, anderson. >> and major implications for

any longer term solution to peace in this region. it complicates matters a great deal now that you have the increase in power of hamas, weakening in power of the palestinian authority and their leader mahmoud abbas. reza sayah is joining us from cairo. 24 hours from now, more negotiations continue. >> yeah, they certainly do. the tendency is after a week of fighting and bloodshed to be relieved that the fighting is over, that there is a cease-fire. but at this point, there is no indication this cease-fire is going to lead to a long-term truce, a long-term peace agreement. and many here in the arab world and the egyptian streets believe that if indeed the core problems persist, there is going to be more conflict to come. those core issues are the occupation of palestinian territory by israel and the

building of settlements. hamas has come out and said, if those issues persist, they're going to resist and resistance in the past has met more violence. if we don't have a long-term agreement of peace, i wouldn't be surprised if we're back here, witnessing the cycle of violence in a year or two. >> yeah. those are settlements being built in the west bank, not in gaza. we'll take another short break. our special coverage continues in a moment. by not breaking down. consider the silverado 1500 -- still the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickups on the road. and now we've also been recognized for lowest total cost of ownership -- based on important things, like depreciation, fuel, and maintenance costs. and now trade up to get a 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $9,000. from outstanding value to standing the test of time, chevy runs deep.

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palestinian authority, president mahmoud abbas. that was a face-saving gesture. we heard from the head of hamas in cairo, praising the agreement, praising the state of egypt for their guarantees they made in this agreement. we also talked to israel's ambassador to the united states a short time ago, michael orlen, who said there were some rockets fired into southern israel. he did not go into great detail on that. i want to check in with wolf blitzer in jerusalem and ben wedeman in gaza city. ben, we have been hearing celebratory gunfire, a lot in the streets there. and, wolf, that is a sign of how relieved a lot of people and how happy people seemed to be with a cease-fire agreement. gaza city has been virtually empty. we're for the first time now in the last eight days seeing large numbers of people going out there. the next hours are critical to see whether or not the cease-fire holds. >> in the middle east, hopes have been dashed so many times.

there is a temptation we have when there seems to be an agreement of some sort to go out of our way and exaggerate the potential for good news in this part of the world, having covered it for a long time, i said pessimism pays. as hopeful as things are, it could easily deteriorate very quickly. >> what are you going to be watching in the next few hours. we're seeing the live shot of cars on the streets in gaza city, which the last three nights i've been there i've not seen at all. >> i'm going to see if there is any violations. that's the first and foremost the most important -- if there are no more violations if the agreement holds, there is peace and quiet on both sides, in gaza, southern israel, no more rockets coming in, no more shelling. that will be very encouraging. that will be a nice hopeful sign. but we're going to have to theft this. >> and according to this agreement, in 24 hours, negotiations are supposed to go under way through egypt with hamas, with israel, for opening

up borders to a greater degree than they have been. ben wedeman is joining us in gaza city. you heard from the head of hamas. what struck you about his comments? ben wedeman, can you hear me in gaza city? >> yes, i can, anderson. it is very, very loud here. i haven't seen this many people in the streets of gaza for quite some time. you can hear the mosques bla blairing, the horns honking, people whistling, cheering. it is quite a seen at the moment, anderson. >> ben, i think you probably heard the statement made by the head of hamas and cairo. your thoughts on it. he had a lot of praise for egypt, a lot of confidence about not only hamas' power moving

forward, but what might happen once negotiations begin 24 hours from now. >> definitely. thi i think meshal has been satisfied with what has been achieved. a different sort of atmosphere than the press statement made by prime minister benjamin netanyahu and defense minister ehud barak. they -- hamas emerges from this conflict out of -- having broken out of its six-year political isolation, and it show on their faces. >> and, wolf, i mean, the united states, israel tried to politically isolate hamas for the last six years. have they now just completely failed them? >> there is no doubt that hamas, the reputation among palestinians, among the arabs, among muslims and others has been enhanced because of what it

achie achieved. i say achieved in the sense that they have managed to do stuff to the israelis that hadn't been done in a long time. hit the outskirts of tel aviv with a missile, even though there was, you know, not huge casualties or anything along those lines or hit the outskirts of jerusalem. and terrorizing hundreds of thousands of israelis in the southern part of the country. that has elevated hamas. they were fighting their arch enemy if you will and -- >> not recognizing the state of israel and israel views hamas as -- >> as a terrorist organization. >> yes. >> what does that mean moving forward for any kind of actual solution, two-state solution down the road? >> let's see if this were -- this will be overly optimistic, if this were to convince hamas that, you know what, you should accept the conditions of the united states, the european union, others have put forward, you will be recognized, you will be recognized as a -- people will talk to you, you accept

israel, you renounce terrorism, and you accept previous israeli palestinian agreements, that would be a significant step forward. i'm not saying hamas is going to do that and we're not getting any indication they're doing it. at the same time, maybe this could be a potential down the road long-term breakthrough if that were to happen. >> the other concern is that hamas will use this time to replenish their stockpile of increasingly sophisticated weapons. >> that's the fear in israel. >> that's the fear in israel. we'll talk about that. sara sidner is joining us from tel aviv where a bomb was thrown into a bus earlier in the day. and there was celebration in gaza city, celebratory gunfire in the wake of that, when that announcement was made over loudspeakers by various mosques. i'm wondering about the reaction you're hearing tonight to the cease-fire in tel aviv. >> this is an area where right along the beach, anderson, where it is usually bustling with a lot of people.

people are at the cafes, people at the restaurants and it is quiet. and that may have to do with earlier the tense situation here, hearing there was a bus that exploded, injuring several people, we're talking about 22 people, some inside, some outside of the bus. we know five of the people are still in the hospital. but it gave people quite a scare and put people on high alert, the government also putting the city on high alert because of that blast. and still looking for suspects in that blast. what i can tell you is i spoke to a senior diplomat, israeli diplomat who talked a little bit about what the cease-fire meant. and sounded quite optimistic. mostly because of egypt's role. you have new leadership in egypt. the world changed since the arab spring and the concern that israel had that perhaps with president morsi in place, with the muslim brotherhood in place, that is close to hamas there would be a difference in the way that egypt handled situations like this. but to see them step forward, to see them being the keeper of

this cease-fire and trying to make sure it is in place, not the enforcer but the keeper of this, there is quite a bit of optimism in his voice and he was happy to see they felt like they could count on egypt to try to be that intermediary, just as they did the mubarak regime. anderson? >> and we should say the israeli defense forces has said -- told cnn they know of -- they say they know of two rocket launches from gaza and several interceptions since the cease-fire has gone into effect at 9:00 p.m. local time, just over an hour ago. the israeli ambassador to the u.s. indicated that as well to us in an interview just a short time ago. ben wedeman is standing by in gaza city, has not seen any rockets being launched from gaza city, but obviously the vantage ben has from our bureau there is on one part of the city. israeli defense forces saying two rockets fired. ben, israel's ambassador saying he -- that's not unusual, that's

not -- he didn't seem to be making too big of a deal of that. he said it takes some time in a cease-fire like this, for everybody to kind of come into line if in fact that's going to happen. >> yes, that's the case. i remember at the end of operation cast led in 2008, 2009, we were out in northern gaza, hours after this cease-fire took effect and saw two rockets fired from that area, right in front of us, in fact. into israel. i think all sides understand that there are a few loose canons, so to speak, around, and that it is inevitable there will be violations, certainly in the beginning. and i think we really do have to watch how the next 24 hours play out. if, indeed, there is a dramatic deescalation of the situation. and what we're seeing now, certainly from gaza, there is no

rocket fire from the city. there is a good deal of celebratory gunfire, but that's a different sort of fire. anderson? >> yeah. it is critical to mention that hamas is not the only faction, the only actor in gaza. and the only one who has access to rockets. islamic jihad, other groups as well. this agreement, this cease-fire from israel's perspective, hamas is responsible for all factions. >> that's what mark told us, they will hold hamas responsible, even if some splinter group launches at israel. they'll see it as a violation of the agreement. i suspect there will be some flexibility. they recognize that sometimes when there is an agreement of this nature, there will be a tendency for the situation to be a little bit dicey. i think there is going to have to be flexibility on both sides.

if there is a little bit of goodwill, and i suspect there will be, maybe this thing will work. >> wolf blitzer, appreciate it. wolf have more at the top of the next hour. he moved to the situation room to here in jerusalem. >> you're in the situation room. >> it is only official when -- >> you will be in the situation room. you can run, but you can't hide. >> our coverage continues. we'll hear from both sides of representatives of the israeli government and the palestinian authority as well. we'll be right back. ! >> this say critical moment for egypt. egypt's new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone of regional stability and peace. wçó so what do you think? basic.

at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. welcome back to our continuing coverage of the ongoing cease-fire that began at 9:00 local time, here more than one hour ago. hanan ashrawi is joining me now. appreciate you being with us. your thoughts on the cease-fire. >> well, anderson, we think it is a very positive move. the first objective is to stop the bloodshed and save lives. and you have almost 150

palestinians killed and 1100 wounded, and massive amounts of destruction. we are very pleased that the shooting and firing has stopped, but we also believe that this is a first step. and if it stops there, and if we don't deal with the causes of violence again, then it will erupt again. and in a sense this is a positive first step, but we do hope that there will be a serious battling of the issues of the occupation and the siege and we can achieve genuine police rather than temporary truces. and the palestinian people constantly pay the price when there is a temporary truce. >> more negotiations are to begin 24 hours from now. negotiations about the blockade of gaza, and other negotiations. what do you think are the biggest first steps that need to occur. >> well, first, the thing is

stopping the destruction, which is important, because bombing and shelling. and the assassination policy has to stop, israel said it will stop. the next thing of the siege that is important is because it has transformed gaza and to a total disaster area, created massive unemployment, massive poverty, 80% of people are on food aid. and it has created an enormous situation that also generates resentment and anger and violence. this has to stop. and it seems to me if we are going to move beyond that, lifting the siege, then what we should do is prepare the ground for the two-state solution, to accept the palestinian state that is at the u.n. and to move from there in order to transform the reality from one of occupation and siege and killing and destruction and settlement to a situation of good neighborly relations.

>> how much more difficult is a two-state solution, some sort of long-term solution given the division between the palestinian authority and hamas and hamas, what most observers say, is increasingly powerful hamas over the last eight days. >> every time israel uses the palestinian people in gaza, hamas comes out stronger. and hamas is seen now as having withstood this massive onslaught and managed not just to survive, but to get its demands accepted. what we're talking about is a comprehensive palestinian situation. we don't see the west bank and gaza as two separate entities. we are one nation, one people and we need to have the same solution. we're talking about now a dialogue among all the different -- there was a commitment by everybody, during the incursion, that there will be the conciliation, there were

envoys sent from the west bank, there were lots of discussion among fractions, including hamas and islamic jihad and we hope this will trigger a new reconciliation to implement the signed agreement also and to move ahead as one unified nation. we know it is not easy. we know there are different political agendas, but hopefully the national interest will prevail and we will work on it. it seems to me are a two-state solution, which hamas accepts and the palestinians accepted through its referendum is the real solution. the occupation is not -- israel -- >> can you see a day -- can you ever see a day where hamas accepts the right of israel to exist? >> i can once israel sepz the

rights of the palestinians with self-determination and to sovereignty and independent statehood and stop treating us like captive subhuman species. this has to stop. it seems to me israel thinks it is entitled, it has a sense of privilege, it can exist above the law, and at the same time that the palestinians are excluded from the protection of the law. you get accountability for israel and you get protection for the palestinians and accordance with the law. and then you will see not just hamas, but you will see a consensus among the palestinians that we would like to live as neighbors. but if israel can't -- not just our rights but our fundamental humanity, the sense of exclusion, the process of holding everything palestinian open and up for grabs, this is something that has to stop. israel has to accept the fact that we have the right to freedom, to dignity, to our own

land, to our own resources. we have accepted israel on 78% of palestine and now israel is stealing what is left of the 22% which it occupied in '67. we're saying leave us alone. let the palestinian people go. we have our state and the west bank including jerusalem and gaza, and we will live as good neighbors. >> obviously complex negotiations for all of that to occur. hanan ashrawi, appreciate you being on the program. neftali bennett joins us now. are you disappointed by the cease-fire? >> widespread sentiment here is profound disappointment. people have been in shelters over a week, showered by a thousand missiles and we expect to defeat terror. we have a terrorist state in gaza.

i want to be very clear. what mrs. ashrawi said is false. they have an independent state that we hand over to them in 2005 and days after handing over that state, that everyone hopes would become a cigna for for the middle east, it became the al qaeda of the middle east and began shooting missiles at us. we have taken in the missiles again and again and now enough is enough. but unfortunately we have this premature cease-fire, which i expect will just be very temporary, we'll be back on square one in a month or two and then at that point we'll have to finish the job. >> you have no doubt that you'll be back to square one. you think this is status quo, doesn't really change anything? >> yeah, i mean, the fundamental problem here, anderson, is that hamas, in their charter as determined -- their main goal to wipe out israel, that's what they want to do, that's why they're shooting missiles, we never shoot at them anything.

we defend ourselves. when they shoot -- place a missile launcher in kindergarten, they're killing their own children and we, yeah, we do defend ourselves. but it is the problem that the only way to deal with it, with terror, you have to defeat terror. at this point, it has not happened. the good news is that the israeli population, and tens of thousands of reservists have shown resolve and a will to live. this time it hasn't happened. it is a draw. next time i think we'll do the job and defeat the terrorists. >> given that hamas seems to have merged from this, certainly with more international allies, with egypt, qatar, other countries coming forward, backing them up basically, sending emissaries to gaza city during the last eight days or so, do you believe that the

israeli policy, the u.s. policy, trying to politically isolate hamas, has failed? >> i think what would happen is that it was the -- you have to finish the job. imagine next to florida there was al qaeda state shooting missiles continuously on miami, what would you do? would you just reach a cease-fire with it or would you -- >> would you say finish the job, though? is a military solution possible? >> yes, it is. terror can be defeated. we hear this question many times, and the answer is, yes, if you're very determined, to fight terror, you can win. we did it in 2002. we had hundreds of suicide bombers coming into israel and we went out and stopped terror and we won. tel aviv and jerusalem it not incurring constant terror attacks anymore because terror has to be dealt with in faith

and not in -- not negotiated with terrorists. that's a big mistake. i think many israelis feel we stopped short of defeating the terrorists this time around. >> i appreciate your perspective. and we -- as we heard from the head of hamas, speaking in cairo in the last hour, more negotiations will begin within 24 hours over the next step, what happens next, if the cease-fire holds over the next 24 hours. appreciate you joining us as well. we'll be right back. people really love snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you?

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hey, welcome back to our continuing coverage of the cease-fire agreement between israel and hamas. it was brokered by egypt and by secretary of state hillary clinton. we also have some breaking news domestic politics in the united states. for that, to victor blackwell in

atlanta. >> this just in, democratic congressman jesse jackson jr. has resigned from congress. jackson has been treated for a mood disorder, gastrointestinal issues and recently spent a month at the mayo clinic. he also is the focus of an investigation into the misuse of campaign funds. and despite having not been seen on capitol hill in months, voters in illinois re-elected him to a tenth term this month. jesse jackson jr. is 47 years old. back to anderson in jerusalem. >> victor, appreciate that. back to our news here. our continuing coverage of the cease-fire. let's go to reza sayah in cairo, who has been looking at the negotiations that have been taking place and will begin to take place again some 23 hours from now. the next steps in the some sort of longer term cease-fire, some sort of longer term agreement. what do we know about what is supposed to happen in 23 hours, assuming the cease-fire holds?

>> well, yeah, well, i think they're going to put many of the issues on the table and try to talk about them. and na includes the travel and the crossings, the economic blockade, the rocket attacks, the assassination attempts by israel against hamas officials. they're going to talk about all of those and i think moving forward, egypt is going to be viewed as a watchdog for any condition that is going to be agreed upon. and if those conditions are broken, egypt is going to be held accountable. i think at this point, anderson, egypt is looking good in many ways at the international community. they polstered their status in many ways. this was a test for egypt, their new islamist government, the president, mohamed morsi, muslim brotherhood figure, a lot of questions and alarm at western capitals when this government came in, would they take a stuffer positistuff

tougher position against israel, take up arms against israel. they took a measured and calculated approach in playing the role of peacemaker. and indications are they didn't want to disrupt their peace deal with israel, their alliances with western capitals, with washington. remember, these are all countries that egypt will depend on. and ultimately it looks like they didn't want to jeopardize their standing in the international community. >> and reza, in this agreement, egypt is a guarantor of the agreement and has a critical role to play moving forward with the tunnels that go from egypt into gaza through which a lot of the rockets, a lot of the more sophisticated rockets we have seen, the fajr 5, fajr 3, have been smuggled. it will largely be -- it will require egypt's cooperation to prevent these weapons from going through in the future. >> yeah. this conflict and egypt's role

was test number one. test number two and subsequent tests are coming up. and one of those tests is how egypt handles these weapons that are often smuggled through the underground tunnels and the rafah crossing and other areas. and, again, early indications are that egypt wants a credible stature in the international community. they want to economically recover and they realize in many way s that if they're not accountable if they don't push forth with their promises, they will no longer be recognized the way they are right now. anderson? >> reza sayah, appreciate your reporting. we'll continue checking in with you throughout the evening, throughout the afternoon. will the bloodshed finally be over? we have seen so much blood in the streets in gaza city, blood on the borders in israel as well. so much pain and anguish, so many people living in fear for more than a week now. has it finally come to an end. the cease-fire seems to be at

this point holding skies over gaza city, seem to be quiet. there seems to be celebratory gunfire. israeli defense forces have reported least two rockets fired from some positions in gaza toward israel, some interceptions as well, they said. but when i spoke to israel's ambassador to the united states, he seemed to downplay that, said he's not surprised by that, that often happens in these kind of cease-fires. and the critical to be watching over the next several hours as word filters down to the various factions and groups. i want to welcome in paula noonan and welcome our viewers on cnn international just joining us. let's talk about the challenge of trying to stop the flow of arms into gaza. we have seen an increase in the sophistication of the kind of weapons, no longer these homemade rockets that we have seen being made in makeshift factories in gaza, four, five years ago. now fajr 5, fajr 3 rockets which come from iran, talk about how they -- how they actually get

into gaza? >> reza was saying there is more work for egypt to do, they will be the watchdog you bet. it is all going to land in the lap of mohamed morsi. i'll tell you why. this is israel, the gaza strip, the west bank, here is egypt and the sinai peninsula. if we look a little bit more closely at the border crossing here. anderson, that's eight miles going down there, we have shown a lot of video of this, reporters have been down there many times it a warn. for this cease-fire to remain credible, there has to be some easing of the blockade now going on in gaza. that also means that egypt needs to be able to guarantee that those missiles in parts coming in from iran no longer can get in through the border crossing. it is so sophisticated, there is some suggestion that egypt just can't handle this on its own, it will take an international effort to make sure this border remains secure. and in an interesting

development, just today, in fact, iran said that they are admitting that now hamas has the capability to build those long range missiles in gaza themselves, that they have everything they need. and that certainly up the the ante today. iran stirring the pot. anderson? >> yeah, critical to watch that flow of arms, that pipeline, see if it can be stopped. paula noonan, appreciate that reporting. the cycle of violence, it has settled in some cases into a sickening routine we have seen for years now. can that finally be stopped? we'll look at that ahead. ♪ [ gordon ] for se this line is a convenience. how you doing today? i'm good thanks. how are you? i'm good. [ gordon ] but for others, it's all they can afford. every day nearly nine million older americans don't have enough to eat.

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and welcome back to our continuing coverage of the cease-fire agreement now between israel and hamas. it was brokered by egypt and involving secretary of state hillary clinton as well and some shuttle diplomacy in the last minute, the last few days. anderson cooper reporting live from jerusalem. the jerusalem bureau chief of time magazine carl vick is joining us live now in tel aviv. he wrote the gaza problem -- you

called gaza a stepchild of history. how so? what do you mean by that? >> well, it is a stepchild of history, like a prisoner of its own geography. the geography of history it bordered on one side by egypt and on the other two sides by israel and on the mediterranean sea locks it in. nobody kind of owns it right now. historically, for two decades, in the last century, egypt administered it after 1948, after israel came into being in the war that drove so many people of the arabs lived in what is now israel, made them refugees and they collected themselves and gathered in the gaza strip where three out of four people called themselves a refugee already, a defendant of these people. and egypt survives for a couple of decades. then you had the six-day war and israel won big and overran the west bank and gaza and

administrated it for the next 40 years or so. but seven years ago they pulled out of gaza and gaza sort of hasn't belonged to anybody since. and in the last five or six years they had this blockade and the siege because israel doesn't like hamas and they really very much are sort of an -- or have been. >> why should anyone believe that -- why should anyone believe with this deal that anything is going to be different? >> i don't know. i think only because watching your coverage tonight, and reading between the lines of the agreement, this looks like a net gain for hamas. it looks -- it sounded to me from what ambassador orlen said that the terms of the siege or the blockade might be changing but it might suffice to just

inspect ships and that won't be turned away anymore. so you won't have things like the flotilla fiasco. and those kind of confrontations. the bigger deal would be for people living in gaza, because they don't have a port, so when you can get in from sea, it is whether they can get in real access in and out through egypt through the rafah crossing and that's -- these are all things addressed blandly and the topics will be discussed after 24 hours of quiet. but it sounded like the head of hamas was celebrating this achievement, celebrating as if it was an achievement, it could be a fait accompli and you have language from israel saying we're talking as though they're interested not only in the quiet for the residents of southern israel and the rocket fire and also the well-being of the gazan

people. so could be something. >> and we'll have to see. karl vick, appreciate your reporting. thank you very much. check out karl in "time" magazine. you're looking at live pictures of gaza city. the streets now packed. that's first time in the last eight nights since this most recent conflict has flared up, a lot of people out, just wanting to get out of their homes for first time, most people have been staying indoors. we want to look at what life has been like for kids on both sides of the border frankly. kids who often don't understand the nuances, the details of what is going on, but understand now the sound of rockets coming, the sound of explosions and the loss of life as well. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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kids are caught in the conflict between israel and the palestinians. he focused on four young boys. this child of gaza, the implications it has for ever finding peace. >> from the mouth of a child, saying we'll take revenge. i want to bring in the man behind the film, tell me about the boy. >> he saw his -- watched his father shot. he, according to mahmoud, his father went to the door of the house, when paratroopers had arrived, and he went to the door with his hands in the air and saying there is women and children in the house and they shot him dead in front of them.

they then subsequently destroyed his house, and later on during the course of the night, his sister amel who is seen in the pictures, she was put in a house which was later rocketed and she ended up with shrapnel in her brain as a result of it. so she was injured. and her father was killed. >> you've written about -- i've heard you say you went to gaza to document the sadness of its kids. what did you actually find? >> i found children who were in a state of shock, who were obviously terrified by the events that had occurred. but i also saw a place that was on a real balancing, a knife's edge, where children were looking for answers. looking for why. the question why, why did this happen, why did this happen? but still you could see there

was hope because many of the children talked about the fact that they don't blame the children of israel, you know, they blame the adults who came and did this. but they were looking for justice, which they didn't feel they were getting. and then ultimately what happens is when you look for justice and you don't get it, the next thing you're looking for is revenge. but very much still because they're children, they were looking -- they still had hope. >> and we see that on the israeli side of the border as well. you go into some of the bomb shelters, in ashkelon, so much fear in the eyes of kids as the rockets are coming down. jezza newman, thank you for being on. up next, to the white house and president obama spoke with benjamin netanyahu. we'll be right back.

and welcome back to our continuing coverage of the cease-fire agreed to now by israel and hamas, brokered through egypt and secretary of state hillary clinton. eight days of violence, nearly 150 deaths. and netanyahu says cease-fire now is the right thing for israel. he also warns more military action if the cease-fire in fact fails. want to bring in our foreign afails correspondent jill dougherty at the white house. it looks like secretary clinton is ending her tenuren to a position a positive note.

>> first, on secretary clinton, obviously this is, if it holds, a very good thing for secretary clinton in terms of her legacy and what she's been able to accomplish. don't forget that the administration has been under some fire because of benghazi. and now this, you can say, she worked very hard and deciduously to go on this shuttle diplomacy mission to try to bring this together. and, in fact, a senior administration official that i was just speaking with said that in their feeling she did an exceptional job. this official also said that it is fair to say that the -- what really clinched it was the two phone calls that president obama made today and that would be to prime minister netanyahu of israel and also to president morsi of egypt. and that is what officials here are stressing a lot.

which is this burgeoning relationship with president morsi. they gave an example that -- >> do we know what promises were made? >> what promises? you would have to say the promises to egypt, to israel obviously would be more protection. iron dome, to push for more money for iron dome, which protected a lot of israeli live and for more security for israel. it also would be pushing in some fashion to cut down and stop hopefully the smuggling of weapons into israel from iran. and in connection with that, you know, the u.s. has been working recently very much with egypt on exactly those things. security, the smuggling, al qaeda in the region, and sinai security. so this is in keeping with some things that have already been in

train. >> you're looking at the right-hand side of your screen at the a row of cars, i want you to know the significance of that. that is a street in gaza city right by our bureau, a main street city right by our bureau, main street frankly in which we saw them dragging a body of a man accused of being a collaborator just yesterday. and now it is packed with cars for the first time in some eight nights as people are out celebrating this cease-fire shooting into the air in some cases. but just getting out of their homes, homes they've blocked themselves into in the last eight nights as they've been in fear of incoming shells and outgoing rockets as well. we're going to check in with our arwa damon in gaza city to let you hear the sounds and see the sights of what she is hearing and right now. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen.

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continuing coverage of the cease-fire now almost two hours old. it appears from our correspondence in gaza city, they have not seen anymore rockets being fired or anymore incoming from rocket fire in gaza city. our frederik pleitgen who has spent many days now along the israeli side in towns like ashkelon, a town where people have gotten far too used to hearing that terrifying sound of incoming rockets from hamas and islam jihad and other factions inside the gaza strip. he's been following israeli police unit that's been clearing rocket parts that are left behind from these attacks. take a look. >> reporter: more than 1,000 rockets have been fired at israeli towns from gaza while many were intercepted by missile defense systems, some have hit residential areas. that's where these men come in. we're riding along with a bomb diz pose sal unit from the israeli police, a group working overtime in the current conflict. >> we've been through these type

of situations before. we've maneuvered more than 500 police officers at the moment on a daily basis from different parts of the country in to all of a sudden cities such as ashkelon, beer sheva. >> reporter: we arrive at the scene of an impact. one of the experts shows me what's left of a ground rocket fired from gaza. this one was intercepted in midair by the iron dome rocket defense system. but the bomb disposal officer finds more and they need to clear the area of any parts that might explode. >> what's important is to make sure that the area is safe. we're talking about civilian population that is being targeted and hit. enough where it's vital for us to make sure that no one will get injured. and it should be after the rocket attack. >> reporter: those in the bomb disposal unit are forensic experts. the rockets they find are analyzed in labs to find out where they were made, how they work and most important what types of explosives were used. so this is an assortment of rockets that have fallen over

the ashkelon area. it's not all of them. it's only some. there's more laying around here. but there's various types of rockets you can find. for instance this is a grad rocket that you can tell by the fins that pop out when the rocket gets launched. whereas this one here is a homemade kasam rocket. it was made in a workshop in gaza because the fins were welded on in a rudimentary way. >> a look at what a local bomb disposal unit in a lot of those towns over the years and the rockets keep coming. the cease-fire two hours old. officials saying there have been a number of rockets continued to be fired into israeli from gaza. some have been intercepted. when i spoke to israel's ambassador michael oren he said that's not surprising, it often happens. something they'll watch closely in hopes that will taper off and finally come to a stop so the cease-fire does hold and more negotiations begin some 24 hours

from now or i should say some 22 hours from now. our coverage is going to continue all evening long. wolf blitzer's coming up in "the situation room" after a short break. i'll be back on the air at 8:00 for an edition of "ac 360." stay tuned for wolf blitzer. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries.

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